~*~

    DAY FOUR

    There was a weird atmosphere around the campsite as the next morning was broken. Daniel and Anna were avoiding each other, Matt and Kate were actually getting along, Chris was acting weirdly around Lex, and Sammie still wasn’t back, although they all assumed she was as no one had noticed her absence yet.

    They were eating breakfast as peacefully as it was possible for them. Kate was smacking away on a double sandwich with lettuce and cheese, while the others were stuck eating dry cereals. No one wanted to ask where exactly Kate had gotten her food, and none of them really cared.

    Kate had apparently adjusted to the whole idea of wearing rain proofed clothes, and had bought herself a brand new pair of pink Wellington boots, using Fred's credit card. She was matching her outfit with a southwester - in a pink shade, of course. This made her look utterly ridiculous but she thought she was looking stylish.

    The others also dressed in their rain coats and boots, but at this point it didn't seem to matter much as everything was wet. Kate's hair was so frizzy at this point that she looked like a wet lion. There was no point putting on nice clothes as it just got soaked the minute they stepped out of their tent.

    Nobody felt the urge to complain about the weather, though, as it affected not only them, but everyone around the camping site. They were all in it together, so to speak, and everyone was nice and friendly, inviting others over to their camps to hang out. The only one who seemed to frown upon these kinds of invitations was Daniel, but he wasn't a big fan of people in general.

    While they were getting ready to leave for the festival area, the inevitable question popped up. ”Where's Sammie?” Lex asked, not sure she could remember seeing her all morning.

    ”Maybe she's still sleeping?” Jeff hopefully suggested, knowing he was probably wrong.

    ”No one's seen her?” Anthony said.

    ”I thought she was staying in your tent,” Chris told him.

    ”We thought she was staying in your tent!” Matt yelled, determinedly walking over to Fred and Daniel's tent, peeking his head inside. ”And she's not here either!”

    ”She stayed out all night?” Lex said suspiciously.

    Matt seemed to have blown a fuse or two. ”She was with that guy all night?”

    ”She doesn't even know him!” Kate announced dimly. Nobody had the strength to comment on this.

    Just as the camp was about to go into another state of crisis, Sammie appeared from nowhere. ”Hey, guys.”

    Somehow this simple comment made Matt's brain and common sense shut off completely. His most impulsive reaction to Sammie's nightly adventure was to brusquely grab Kate's arm and pull her in to a deep kiss. The only way you could tell that this affected Sammie was the shock her eyes were expressing. Otherwise she was trying to look as bored as she could. ”That's mature, Matt.”

    Kate also seemed a little shocked as Matt took her hand and yanked her away from the camp. ”Come on, Kate, let's go,” he said hurriedly, clearly dying to just get away from there. Daniel looked like he was about to punch him when they went by, but Fred managed to hold him back.

    ”What do you mean 'hey guys',” Jeff said with annoyance as the inital shock had settled.

    Sammie raised her eyebrows in surprise. ”I meant: hi, how are you? Clearly that was wrong of me.”

    ”You've been gone all night,” Anthony pointed out.

    Sammie simply shrugged and crawled in to the tent. Lex and Anna didn't waste a second before diving in after her. ”What did you do, Sammie?” Lex asked curiously.

    ”I texted you tons of times but I never got a reply,” Sammie said tiredly. ”What's the big deal?”

    ”You know what the big deal is,” Anna said pointedly. ”If it'd been anyone of us, you'd be as worried.”

    Lex had to ask the question everyone was dying to know. ”Did you sleep with him?”

    ”What? No!” Sammie burst out laughing. ”Guys, you're overreacting.”

    ”Sure seemed like you wanted Matt to think you did,” Anna said.

    Sammie frowned when Matt's name was mentioned. ”Yeah, what's up with him anyway? What happened here last night? Is he and Kate...”

    ”Yeah, who’s overreacting now?” Lex teased. ”You didn't think you'd get away with sleeping with a complete stranger without Matt doing something drastic about it?”

    ”But I didn't have sex with anyone!”

    ”How is Matt supposed to know that?” Lex and Anna said together, and they started laughing.

    Sammie blinked. ”So... Matt thinks I... And now he plans to... With Kate?”

    ”Ain't love grand?” Lex grinned.

    Daniel was still staring in the direction of where Matt and Kate had disappeared to, torn between killing Matt and... Actually, that was the only option currently considered. Matt would die.

    Fred was also worried, but not in a murderous way. “This all seems so familiar somehow,” he sighed deeply.

    “What does?” Daniel snapped, agitatedly trying to get a pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket, and when he didn’t succeed immediately, he finally wrenched the packet out of his jeans and threw it to the ground, demonstratively stomping on it. “You have a cigarette?”

    “Upset much?” Fred asked, rolling his eyes. “I just mean that… it’s all fun and games until Kate goes and gets her heart broken. Again.”

    “And again and again and again – yeah, I get it!” Daniel muttered. “Could someone please hand me a cigarette?” Fred decided to walk away, as Daniel was about two seconds away from digging up muddy cigarette butts from the ground. “Wait,” Daniel suddenly said. “You think Red loves this guy?”

    “You know Kate as well as I do,” Fred mumbled. “She’ll get attached and she won’t know the difference between Matt using her and Matt liking her.”

    “I don’t get what McKinley is doing sometimes,” Daniel growled. “You’d think by now she’d be old enough to know that you can’t get attached to people and trusting them, because they’ll just end up screwing you over. That’s why you don’t have feelings for other people! You use them, you lose them, you get out – she needs to learn this eventually!”

    Someone cleared their throat behind them. Daniel slowly turned around to the shape of Anna. “Brilliant choice of words there, Daniel,” she said with dismay. “It’s amazing how someone could mistake you for having a heart.” She left, roughly bumping up against Daniel when she passed him. Daniel rubbed his arm, for the first time in his life feeling humiliated for something he had said.

    Fred tracked down Lex instead of wasting his time on Daniel and his neuroses. She was cleaning up after breakfast, throwing paper plates in to a plastic bag. Fred started picking things up from the ground to help her out. “Is Anna upset about something? She usually doesn't snap at Daniel like that,” he said.

    “Anna is a strong person,” Lex said shortly. “She would never let Daniel have the satisfaction of seeing her cry.”

    Fred felt bad. “She’s been crying?” There was nothing he hated more than when a girl cried, especially one he cared about.

    “What do you think?” Lex muttered. “Daniel was such an asshole to her. I would beat his ass up if I could.”

    “Daniel can’t fight, so you probably could.”

    “Of course I could,” Lex rolled her eyes. “I just meant that if I was allowed to. Anna promised me not to tell the guys what Daniel said. Believe me, he’d be a bloody pulp by now if I had.”

    “I’m sorry,” Fred mumbled, feeling oddly responsible for the whole thing.

    Lex glared at him. “What do you have to say sorry for? Your friend did something wrong, not you. You shouldn’t have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders!” Realizing it probably sounded like she was yelling at him, she softened a bit, smiling briefly. “I just mean, stop taking the blame for someone else’s mistakes. I know you would never in a million years make Anna cry, and even if that would somehow happen, I’m sure you’d spend the rest of your life making up for it.”

    “I’m sorry,” Fred repeated. “I mean… Never mind.”

    They kept on straightening up during silence, Fred feeling stupid and Lex feeling annoyed.

    Sammie was closely watched during the day, so she wouldn’t cause anymore problems. Matt didn’t return back to their camp at all, and whether he was still with Kate or had axe murdered her, they didn’t know, because she was also missing.

    Instead of focusing on all the current drama, Jeff suggested they’d all go together to see one of the concerts later in the evening. After all, that’s why they were there in the first place. Anthony, Chris and Jeff were psyched about the whole idea, because they had invited their new friends from the group of tents next to theirs. Fred was less excited because one of the girls from that camp never left him alone. Daniel was indifferent and Sammie wanted to go see another concert with her new flirt. This was voted down seven to one.

    Instead of staying in their own camp, they decided to have a pre-party at their neighbors instead. Their neighbors consisted of four giggly teenage girls who seemed to be Kate’s soul mates. The guys were glad Kate wasn’t there, as she probably would have made the girls her new best friends. Lex, Anna and Sammie got bored quickly because none of them got any attention at all from their friends, as they were flirting untiringly with the new girls.

    Fred was terribly unhappy about the whole ordeal. He couldn't get away from his new admirer and Lex obviously thought they were flirting with each other and she didn’t seem to care too much either. She was throwing back vodka shots with Sammie, while Anna was laughing at something Sammie had just said.

    Chris shoved Fred in the side; motioning at him to pay attention to the girl he was supposedly talking to. Fred guessed her name was Maureen and figured he could try to be nice so that he wouldn’t ruin things for Chris, Jeff and Anthony.

    “So…” he said slowly, drawing a blank on what to talk about. “Maureen?”

    “Colleen!” Chris hissed in his ear.

    “Colleen,” Fred hurried to say. “From Missouri, right?”

    “Massachusetts,” Chris corrected him.

    “Eh, yeah. You’re how old?”

    Chris slapped his arm. “Don’t ask her that!” he whispered frantically.

    Colleen, if that was her actual name, Fred still wasn’t sure, was smiling widely at him while he was trying to sort out her boring history. Fred gave up and leaned over to prod Daniel’s shoulder. “Daniel, have you met Colleen?” Fred was out of the picture as fast as he had expected when Daniel turned on his usual charm. Daniel could come quite in handy whenever Fred wanted to scare off a girl.

    Not sure whether he should stay around drinking with Chris, Jeff and Anthony, as they seemed rather busy at the moment, or if he should bother Sammie, Lex and Anna with their drinking game, Fred decided to just leave and try to find Kate instead. He had no urge to intrude upon anybody’s territory, and he could use a break from the group anyway.

    Kate was a bit worried about how the day had progressed. Sure, it had been fun at first to make out with Matt, because she had always thought he was a good-looking guy with muscles in all the right places, but the fun wore off a bit when Matt was so obviously using her to make Sammie jealous. Even though Matt had barely spoken two words to her since breakfast, Kate’s day had still been considerably more eventful than yesterday. Matt didn’t want to talk, he wanted to kiss and touch and poke and other such activities. Kate didn’t mind that the least bit.

    Although... the thought of Sammie kept popping up in her head. She tried to shake it off, but the thought was still inevitably there. Sammie and Kate shared the same taste in guys, but they had never been rivals before.

    Kate and Matt had spent the last hour and a half kissing intently over behind one of the food stands. Matt seemed to be mostly eager about it to prove a point to himself, but Kate didn't think she was losing out on anything. On the contrary, she would enjoy this for the short while that it would last.

    Matt had his hand far up her thigh under her skirt (Kate had tried to find a pink water proofed skirt, but had not succeeded) when Fred interrupted them. ”Kate!” he shrieked, quickly turning around to avoid looking right at them. Matt and Kate rapidly yanked apart, getting to their feet.

    ”What's up?” Kate asked innocently.

    ”Get your butt over here,” Fred muttered, dragging her away across the grass field. ”What do you think you're doing?”

    ”Just having some fun,” Kate shrugged. Fred's grip around her arm tightened. ”Stop squeezing my arm!” Her howling got the attention from everyone around, making Fred let go of her.

    ”Sorry,” Fred said. ”I just think this is a very bad idea, that's all. I thought you said that you would never go close to Matt as long as he and Sammie were so tight.”

    ”So? Sammie kissed Daniel, didn't she?” Kate pouted.

    ”I think it was the other way around, and even though; why should that matter? You and Daniel have never dated and will never do so either. Right?”

    ”Of course not!” Kate said, outraged. ”But still... Why should they be allowed to kiss if Matt and I aren't?”

    ”Don't you realize that you could be hurting Sammie's feelings? Don't you care?” Fred questioned her, hoping he could shake some sense into her.

    ”What about my feelings?” Kate asked. ”She didn't care that kissing one of my best friends would hurt me!”

    ”Again: why the hell should it matter? Daniel is allowed to kiss whoever he pleases, and Sammie didn't even seem to enjoy his attention very much."

    ”She was just doing it to make Matt jealous, and to provoke me!” Kate pointed out. ”She never would have touched him if we hadn't been fighting earlier, and that's just mean!”

    ”And kissing Matt even though you know they like each other isn't? Don't be a mean girl, Katie. Be the bigger person.”

    ”I'm always the bigger person!” Kate said with frustration. ”Why am I never allowed to have any fun? Everyone else is running around like animals in heat, but Kate McKinley is doomed to walk down the road alone. When is it my turn?”

    Fred pinched her lightly. ”Maybe when you stop screaming, Crazy Katie.”

    ”Don't call me that!” Kate made an attempt to wrestle him down, but trying to knock over Fred was like trying to move a mountain. Kate bounced back and landed on her butt. ”Ouchie.”

    Fred smiled, crouching down in front of her. ”Sorry. Let me know next time you wanna fight so I can fake a fall,” he suggested. He helped her back on her feet, brushing off some mud from her already stained skirt. ”You know you and I will always be friends, no matter how annoying you can be-” As he said this, Kate began to protest but Fred cut her off. ”-but it doesn't always work like that with people you haven't known for so long. If Sammie and you have a fall out, maybe you won't be able to repair your friendship as easily.”

    ”I like Sammie,” Kate mumbled.

    ”So why risk it for a temporary fling? Matt is only using you to make Sammie jealous anyway.”

    ”I know,” Kate admitted.

    ”So, why are you being so stubborn?” Fred asked with a smile. ”I've never seen you risk a friendship over a guy before. Why start now, with Sammie, who you actually like?”

    Kate shrugged her shoulders, biting her lip. ”It's nice to get some attention. None of them likes me for me,” she sighed. ”Sammie and Anna and Lex get all the attention, whether they notice it or not, but no one's ever interested in me.”

    ”Lots of people are interested in you,” Fred protested. ”You get asked out all the time.”

    ”But not by anyone who cares about me. Never by any good guys who'd like to be my friend as well. I'd just like for once to have a guy notice me for who I am and liking me. Chris and Jeff and Anthony would never wanna date someone like me. Why can't I get a nice guy like them?”

    Fred chuckled a little, despite Kate being so serious. ”Kate, every time a nice guy asks you out, you always dump them for a bad guy.”

    ”That's just in the female nature!” Kate defended herself. Fred was now laughing even more. ”Shut up!”

    ”Do you wanna come back to the camp with me?” he offered with a grin. ”We're leaving for a concert soon.”

    Kate shook her head no. ”Nah, I think I'll stay here with Matt for a while. I know what I'm doing!” she added when Fred glanced at her suspiciously.

    ”Don't get in trouble, Katie,” he warned. ”Mess around with Matt as innocently as you want, just keep in mind that you're gonna wanna be friends with Sammie again once this endless week is over.”

    ”Live in the moment, worry later!” Kate cheered philosophically, waving her arms around to form an L. ”Gooo, Wildcats!”

    ”Yeah, our team is called Cougars, Katie. You're nuts.”

    Kate ran off, cheering wildly.

    Back around the camp fire, everyone had gotten sufficiently drunker. Daniel was bluntly flirting with his new subject, kind of hoping it would result in him forgetting all about Anna for a while. In the end, it almost had the opposite effect.

    Anna was seemingly not upset at all about this, because she was talking and laughing with her friends only a short distance away. She hadn't looked in his direction once, making him think that all his attempts of making her jealous had failed. He was unsure why he felt the need to even make her jealous in the first place, but he wanted her attention somehow. He knew it was futile, though. After what he had said to her last night, he had assumed that she and the feelings for her would go away. He had been wrong, and he was usually never wrong about anything.

    He simply couldn't leave her alone, even though he'd tried so hard to get her out of his life. Now when she was gone, he still wanted her to be around.

    Daniel couldn't remember ever working so hard for something so unattainable.

    As soon as Fred was back, Daniel hurried over to him. ”The girl and I were thinking of taking off early to catch another show,” he announced loud enough so Anna hopefully would hear. He had no time to figure out if she had or not, as Fred grabbed his arm and dragged him over to their camping lot.

    ”What the hell is your problem?” Fred barked. ”Why are you being such an idiot over this?”

    ”What?” Daniel said defiantly.

    ”Why are you trying to make Anna feel bad? You dumped her.”

    ”We weren't dating,” Daniel muttered.

    ”You know what I mean,” Fred snarled. ”You're deliberately trying to make her cry. Why would you do something like that? She's our friend.”

    ”Hey, these people are your friends, not mine,” Daniel objected. ”I couldn't care less about any of them.” He realized what a lie that was, but was too proud to admit it to Fred.

    Fred stepped closer, noticeably angry. Daniel had always tried his best not to unnecessarily piss Fred off, deep down inside knowing that when Fred would finally snap, he could break every bone in Daniel's body. ”If someone had done the same to Kate, there's no way you'd let that guy get away with it,” Fred hissed through gritted teeth. ”Don't lie and pretend that it doesn't matter to you, because I know it does. Either you stop acting like a jerk, or I'll kick your fucking ass.

    Fred seemed considerably taller and bigger than Daniel when he was angry like this. Daniel tried to calm him down the only way he could without letting Fred win the argument. ”Look, Fred, I'm all over Anna. She's pretty, but she's not the only girl in the world. I'm not like you; I can't focus on one girl at all times. Anna made it clear that it was never gonna happen, so now I'm moving on to someone else. As Red would say: that's the circle of life.”

    Fred wasn't convinced. ”Stop shoving it in her face at least. You don't want her to cry, believe me.”

    ”Oh, right? Did Lex tell you that?” Daniel asked mockingly, opening yet another can of worms.

    ”What's wrong with you?” Fred spat. ”What do you have against Lex? Seriously?”

    ”Nothing,” Daniel sulked. ”I just think you're spending too much time focusing on her. You could find someone better, someone who's actually interested in you and knows you're alive.”

    ”Lex knows I'm alive.”

    ”Obviously not the way you want her to, and you know it.”

    ”Stop talking crap about Lex,” Fred growled, noticing how Daniel was trying to distract him from the real issue. ”And stop being an asshole.”

    ”Yes sir,” Daniel grimaced, knowing he'd been left off the hook quite easily. His attention immediately shifted to a brand new annoyance once they were all tracking through the forest towards the north festival entrance and it turned out that Matt and Kate also had decided to join them. The situation got kind of bizarre from there, as Sammie was shouting about her singer Luke on one side, while Matt was retaliating by passionately snogging Kate on the other side. Daniel had toned down trying to make Anna jealous, but he and Colleen were still walking close next to each other, flirting openly. Lex and Anna were giggling drunkenly at pretty much anything that was said between them, Fred following them on a safe distance, keeping an unnecessary eye on them.

    Colleen's friends - Julia, Sarah and Paula - were also having a bit of an argument, as they couldn't get along regarding which girl should be flirting with which guy. It all got very confusing until they had resolved that problem, but eventually they all paired off, they guys don't really caring who they ended up with.

    There was a new plan in motion while they were in line to get in. All the girls chattered loudly with each other as they showed their entrance passes to the ushers and one of them pretended to have lost her pass so she could make a scene while rummaging through her bag. That was the diversion. While they were making a fuss by the entrance, they guys would help Kate sneak in to the festival area by hurtling her over the security fence. Fred and Chris, who had already gone inside, where supposed to catch her on the other side.

    A seemingly good plan, in theory.

    The girls managed their part in the plan brilliantly, distracting the guards and the personnel to the max. On Kate's end, things did not work out as smoothly. ”You're too heavy,” Anthony complained as he tried to hold her up so she could reach the top of the fence. Jeff was also helping out, trying to keep her stable by holding her hand as she wobbled to an upright position.

    Kate gasped, almost losing her balance. ”The nerve! Kate McKinley does not weigh that much!”

    ”Could you hurry?” Fred asked nervously from the other side. He and Chris were scurrying back and forth, trying to figure out where Kate would be landing if she fell. They also had to keep a look out for any guards that might be strolling by.

    Kate wobbled some more, trying to get a grip on the chain link fence. ”Stop looking up my skirt, Jeffster!”

    ”Stop calling me that!” Jeff protested, averting his eyes. ”Could you climb, woman?”

    Kate made an attempt to throw herself up and over, but failed and bounced back, accidentally kicking Anthony in the head and making him crumble to the ground. To keep from crashing to the ground herself, Kate managed to hang on to the fence, dangling without support seven feet over the ground. ”Sorry!” she yelled to Anthony, who was sitting on the grass, rubbing his head. ”Could you help me down?”

    ”Let go of the fence,” Jeff told her. ”Matt and I'll catch you.”

    ”Promise!” Kate howled worriedly.

    ”I promise,” Jeff said, roughly shoving poor Anthony out of the way so Matt could get room.

    Kate squirmed around some more, anxiously looking down. ”Fred, help me!”

    Fred, who couldn't do much as he was on the wrong side, stared at her helplessly. ”Kate, just let go, it's not that high,” he tried to soothe her.

    ”Not that high?” Kate squealed. ”Maybe not for you, you big darn tree!”

    Chris tried to conceal his laughter by coughing, as he found the situation very amusing.

    Kate started howling, now sounding upset for real. ”My hand is stuck, it hurts!”

    This made them all dart forward, her screaming drawing the attention from passersby. Lex and Anna came running to give them some assistance, but every attempt to rescue Kate was thrown to the side as her skirt also got stuck in the loose wires. Kate panicked and kicked anxiously, making it impossible for the guys to go near her.

    ”What's going on over here?” someone demanded to know. Before anyone had the chance to explain or run away, a ripping sound was heard and Kate tumbled to the ground, landing on top of Jeff and Anthony. They all groaned with pain, trying to untangle themselves from each other, as a couple of security guards blinded them with their flashlights.

    Kate got to her feet first, groggily taking a few steps and then sitting down again. ”Sorry, I got stuck up there,” she explained, investigating her skirt where it had ripped against the fence. Her wrist was bleeding.

    ”Why did you get stuck up there?” one of the guard questioned, leaning down to inspect her hand.

    Kate sniffled a little. ”I lost my entrance pass,” she said quietly.

    ”Did you hurt yourself?”

    ”Yeah, my hand got stuck on something and then I fell,” Kate mumbled. ”I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sneak in but I lost all my packing - please, don't call the police!”

    The guard chuckled. ”Of course we won't call the police, miss. We're taking you to the infirmary so someone can take a look at your hand. I'm sure you can speak to the organizers so they can help you get your pass back.”

    ”They can?” Kate asked pitifully.

    ”Sure, they have a list they can go through. Your name is on the ticket, right?”

    Kate nodded sadly. ”Are my friends getting into trouble now?”

    ”Only for disrupting the peace, maybe,” the guard smiled, taking a quick look at the girls on the other side of the fence, recognizing them from earlier. ”You all have your passes, right?” he addressed them all.

    ”Yeah,” came the answer in unison.

    ”You can all go inside. We'll take your friend with us to the infirmary,” the second guard told them, shooing the guys in the direction of the entrance.

    Fred walked up to the fence. ”Hang on one second, Katie, I'll go with you.”

    ”It’s okay, I can take her,” Matt offered, surprising them all. ”Let's go.” He and the guard helped Kate to her feet, all of them walking over to the guards' van that was parked on the road a short distance away.

    Even though it had just been a simple scratch, Kate acted like a shooting victim, demanding to be pushed around on a stretcher by the one nurse that was on duty for the night. The cabin where the infirmary was kept was so tiny that Kate could only be pushed from the hallway to the examination room, which took more time than if she had walked. She was sitting contently on her ass, swinging her legs, while Matt and the nurse steered her into the other room.

    The wound wasn’t deep so there was no need for stitches, which Matt was glad to hear as he assumed Kate’s piercing scream would wake up half the state. Kate was pampered by the concerned nurse, and after Kate had been disinfected and bandaged up she was treated to a cookie. She and the nurse ended up chatting for nearly half an hour while Matt waited impatiently by the door. After Kate had finally waved goodbye, she and Matt walked over to the reception, just to find that it had closed for the night, so there was nothing else to do but to return to the campsite.

    “We could try sneaking in again?” Kate suggested.

    Matt simply grunted at that idiotic idea. As soon as they got back to the tents, he began making a new fire while Kate sat silently next to him, watching what he was doing. “Hand me some more firewood,” he instructed her, holding out his arm in her direction. It took Kate some time to figure out what he was requesting for, but eventually found it and handed it to him. “Thanks.”

    “Can I grill a hot dog?” Kate asked shyly.

    “As long as you don’t set yourself on fire,” Matt muttered. He threw a quick glance at her and regretted his choice of words. “Sorry. Of course you can.”

    Kate fumbled around with the spit, not getting a firm enough grip of the stick to be able to place a hot dog on it. Matt took pity in her and decided to help her out, taking the stick from her hand and leaning forward to out it in the fire.

    “Aren’t you supposed to wait until the ember shows up?” Kate said, tilting her head to the side to watch the fire more closely. “My dad used to take me camping when I was little, and he told me that you had to wait a while until the fire had burnt down to grill a proper hot dog.”

    Matt snorted. “You went camping at a previous point in your life? You sure you didn’t just camp out in the backyard?”

    “No, my dad liked to go hiking in the forest. He used to take me on all kinds of fun adventures when I was young.”

    “Yeah? What happened?” Matt asked conversationally, not really caring.

    Kate shrugged, starting to pick at a loose string in her bandage. “I don’t know. He didn’t have time for me anymore, I guess. They sent me away to school and that was it.”

    Matt watched her through the corner of his eye. “And here I thought you were just a snobby rich girl.”

    “I am,” Kate giggled a little. “But I never knew that was wrong until I came to Lakewood. I mean, in my neighborhood, everyone acts a bit shifty. I thought I was the normal one, because I wasn’t nearly as spoilt as my friends were. But now… now I’m this rich kid from L.A. who never breaks a sweat over anything.”

    “You mean there are people worse than you out in the world?” Matt grinned, teasing her. He knew there were tons of people at their school alone that were far more stuck-up than Kate had ever been. You had to give it to her; Kate McKinley was not the judgmental kind nor would she ever be mean to anyone based on their wealth. She was just an annoyingly upbeat person who had never experienced a life without tons of money.

    Kate didn’t take offense at all to his joke. “Daniel is much worser than I am and he’s not even half as rich as me!” she pointed out with a smile. “And Fred’s not snobby at all and he’s like a little millionaire.”

    “I guess you’re right,” Matt agreed. “Lex also has a lot of money, but she never flaunts it. The really rich ones don’t really have to, I guess.”

    “No.” They sat next to each other, watching the hot dog get some color. Kate inched closer, showing him her already torn bandage. “When I was a kid, I broke my wrist when I was trying to learn how to ride a bike.”

    Matt smiled involuntarily at her story. “Once, when I was shooting hoops with Jeff, he threw the ball directly at my face when I wasn’t prepared and he knocked one of my teeth loose.”

    Kate giggled again. “You have a nice smile anyway.”

    “Well, it took a lot of practice, but I think I rehabilitated all right,” Matt said. “What about you? Why are you so damn charming all the time?”

    She looked at him with surprise. “You think I’m charming?”

    “You have your moments.”

    “Matt McDonalds, are you flirting with me?”

    Matt laughed. “My name isn’t McDonalds.”

    “You’re not answering my super important question,” Kate pointed out with a grin.

    Matt thought about it for a moment. “Yeah, I guess I sort of am.”

    “I like you,” Kate boldly admitted. “I always liked you, but you never seemed to be interested, and I know you like Sammie.”

    He was quiet for a moment, rotating the hot dog in the fire. “Sammie and I are complicated. We never seem to work out somehow. I don’t know why.”

    “But you’ll end up with her eventually,” Kate said with conviction in her voice.

    “Yeah, maybe,” Matt nodded, still looking at the fire and not at Kate. “But you know… we always see other people when we’re not dating. I guess I’ve just never found anyone I like as much as Sammie. And you… you were just a tagalong friend of Fred. I never paid any attention to any of you because I was so wrapped up in Sammie and school, and other girls. But when you’re not so damn hyper, you’re all right.”

    Kate smiled to herself, feeling warm inside. “I think my hot dog is done.”

    “Yeah.”

    Matt grabbed one of the buns out of the cooler to put the hot dog in, and handed it carefully to Kate. “Why do you go out with other girls when you’re really in love with Sammie?” Kate asked with a bit of hesitation, already fully aware that Matt didn’t like discussing his private life.

    “As I said, it’s complicated. And… I don’t know; it’s hard to explain. I love Sammie a lot, but I’m not one hundred percent sure I’d know the difference between loving her and being in love with her. Do you know what I mean?”

    Kate nodded. “Yeah.”

    “Even if Sammie and I end up together in the end, I could never be sure of myself or of us if I never dated other girls.”

    “I wouldn’t know the difference either, and I’ve never loved anyone. And no one has ever loved me either.”

    Matt didn’t know how to respond to that. Just as a reflex, he reached out and grabbed her hand. She smiled briefly at him. Then they continued to sit in silence while Kate finished her hot dog.

    Despite of Kate’s ‘accident’, the rest of the gang had been having a great time at the concert. Like two nights before, they were now walking in a crisscross pattern among the trees in the forest to get back to their camp. It was quite a feat to pull off, considering it was slippery from the mud and they were all wasted.

    Daniel and Colleen had disappeared from the rest of the gang, but otherwise they were all intact as a group, minus Colleen’s friends who had dropped out one by one. They were all still in high spirits as they helped each other forward through the shrubbery.

    Fred was carrying Lex on his back and he was convinced it was a great moment for them, but he had to concentrate so hard at not dropping her that he nearly couldn’t enjoy it at all. Jeff and Anthony were loudly discussing what had and hadn’t happened between them and the girls they had been flirting with. Anna was walking behind them, rolling her eyes after every other sentence. Sammie and Chris were walking a short distance behind them, leaning against each other so they wouldn’t topple over.

    “Is this really the shortest way back to the tents?” Lex said after a while, feeling a bit of a doubt creeping up. “It wasn’t this dark when we walked earlier.”

    “Duh, it’s because it was during the day,” Chris pointed out, making Sammie giggle randomly.

    Fred was relieved when Lex decided to hop down from his back, leaving him to calm down his nerves a little before it was time to leave again. “Try calling Matt.”

    “Yeah, ‘cause the cell phones have helped us out so much these past couple of days,” Jeff said sarcastically, but still did as she said. The others waited in suspense as he dialed. The signals went through, but no one answered even though he spent almost a minute waiting. “Sorry, guys.”

    “I see a light over there,” Anthony told them; pointing in the direction they came from. “Maybe we just missed the exit.”

    They marched back in a long line, climbing over fallen trees and slipping on wet rocks. Lex fell over, landing on her knees in a big pile of mud, but Fred was immediately there to help her back up. “Thanks,” she smiled, still holding on to his hand even though she was back on her feet. “I’ll just hang on to you, then. You can be my bodyguard.”

    “Any time,” Fred said, pleased with himself.

    They ended up coming out of the forest right behind the service building close to their camp lot. Obviously they had taken the wrong turn somewhere, but they were all back in one piece, and that was what mattered.

    “I wonder what happened to Matt?” Anna wondered out loud. “Weird that he didn’t answer his cell.”

    “Maybe he’s busy,” Lex shrugged.

    “Busy doing what?” Sammie asked suspiciously.

    No one wanted to guess on that one, so they simply walked over to find out for themselves. Their camp was completely deserted. No Kate, no Matt, no Daniel.

    “Weird,” Anna repeated, going through her pockets to find the key to the padlock on the tent. “Maybe they all went somewhere together.”

    Jeff had a feeling that something was up, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was wrong. Everything was put away, the fire was out, the food had been locked in and the tents were all locked as well. It was just a little too perfect, to be completely honest.

    Fred tried to call Daniel, but his phone had been switched off. Fred hadn’t expected any less, really. Hopefully Daniel wouldn’t make a big deal about Colleen in front of Anna. It wasn’t fair that Daniel could be so utterly careless, while Fred had to be the responsible one all the time.

    “They’re gone,” Chris stated simply, after they had searched through the tents.

    Jeff sighed. “We better get to sleep, then.”

    Three of them had completely vanished from the face of the earth and none of the others had any strength left to go look for them. Sammie was crawling in to Chris and Matt’s tent when she started screaming. “Oh my God, I found them!” On her voice it sounded like she had found them both decapitated or something, so they all rushed over to see the mess. Sammie was on her knees, holding Matt’s cell phone fondly in her hands.

    “That’s a phone, Sammie,” Chris pointed out, clearly thinking she had gone off the deep end. Before she had a chance to explain how Matt and Kate could be a cell phone, a scuffle could be heard from their neighbors’ camp lot. Anna and Anthony both jumped out of the way right as Matt came stumbling backwards, crashing into Fred and Daniel’s tent, almost hitting the back of his head against the bench in front of the fire pit.

    “Watch out!” Anna yelled, a bit frightened at the sudden outburst.

    Matt didn’t have time to get up before Daniel collided with him, grabbing the front of his shirt and attempting to pick him up, but Matt was too heavy for him so they both fell to the ground, Daniel throwing punches at his face. Matt wasn’t putting up much of a fight for some reason; he was mostly just trying to get Daniel away from him.

    “Hey!” Jeff yelled at them. “Cut it out!” With combined strength, Jeff and Anthony managed to drag Daniel away from Matt long enough for Matt to have a chance to get to his feet.

    Anna opened her mouth before they could start arguing with each other. “Could you two stop acting like idiots and be civil with each other for one second?” she hollered, seemingly shaken. “Are you trying to kill each other, is that it? I’m so fucking sick of this!”

    “You don’t understand,” Matt growled, wiping some blood away from the corner of his mouth. He didn’t look to be very hurt by Daniel’s punches, which was probably one reason why he hadn’t killed Daniel yet.

    “Shut your mouth!” Daniel bellowed at him furiously, trying to shake off Jeff and Anthony so he could attack again. “You don’t touch her, you hear me? You don’t ever touch her again; you don’t even go close to her!”

    “Shut up for one second and let me explain,” Matt yelled back, taking a menacingly step forward, but Daniel didn’t flinch back this time, much too angry to care. “We were just talking, I wasn’t going to-”

    “It didn’t look like just talking to me!” Daniel cut him off.

    “Wait, guys, what’s going on?” Lex asked confusedly.

    “Yeah, what are you talking about?” Fred demanded to know. “Who was talking to who?”

    Daniel turned towards him instead, hoping for some backup. “That fucker was trying to take advantage of Kate!” he shouted. “I saw them, and I saw what he was trying to do to her! Kate isn’t that kind of girl, you idiot. You leave her the hell alone!”

    “I wasn’t doing anything to her that she didn’t want to do,” Matt said desperately, not really caring what Daniel thought he had seen, but noticing that Fred wasn’t sure what to think. It was more important to him that Fred didn’t get the wrong impression, considering he always thought the best of people until he was proven wrong. “Fred, you have to believe me, I didn’t do anything to her.”

    “Fred, he’s telling the truth,” Lex said. “He wouldn’t do something like that.”

    “Shut up, who asked you?” Daniel raged, almost about to challenge Lex to a fight as well, but before he could move forward, Kate came from nowhere, jumping on his back and nearly knocking him over.

    “No!” she screamed in panic. “Danny, no! He didn’t do anything, I swear!”

    Daniel and Kate wrestled for a moment, until Fred interfered and held Kate out of Daniel’s reach. “Katie, what happened?” Fred asked her calmly, hoping he could save the situation for as much as it was worth.

    Kate was crying, hiding her face in her hands. “We were just talking about… but we didn’t do anything, and Danny misinterpreted everything. Please, Danny, please believe me.”

    Daniel was staring at her in contempt. “Believe you? I was trying to help you, do you a favor, and this is how you repay me? I know what I saw, and I was just trying to look out for you. I thought you didn’t…”

    Kate swallowed hard, trying to catch her breath enough to get out a coherent sentence. “Don’t be mad at him, please. I wasn’t going to do anything, I swear.”

    “I heard you,” Daniel snarled. “I heard you talking and I thought you were in trouble!”

    “We were just talking!” Kate cried. “Please, Danny!”

    Daniel looked completely crushed, not believing what he heard. “Go to hell, Red.”

    Fred held Kate back to keep her from running after when Daniel broke out of the circle and disappeared back among the tents. Jeff turned to Matt, who also looked upset. “What the hell happened between you two? Are you all right?”

    “Yeah,” Matt muttered, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. “Bitch can’t throw a proper punch.”

    “Why didn’t you hit him back?” Sammie asked. It wasn’t a weird question to ask, they had all been wondering the same thing.

    “Maybe he thought Daniel had a point,” Fred mumbled, wrapping his arms around Kate, who was still crying.

    “Of course he didn’t have a point,” Lex said with irritation. “Matt?”

    Matt let the silence speak for itself, as he was staring intently at Kate.

    “He didn’t have a point,” Kate sobbed. “He misunderstood, that’s all.”

    Jeff looked between the two of them; having a feeling it was only half the truth. “Okay. Maybe we should discuss this in the morning instead.”

    “Yeah,” Anna agreed. She was throwing glimpses in the direction where Daniel had headed off.

    Fred took Kate by the hand. “Come on, Katie. I’ll keep you company while you clean up.”

    Kate nodded, following him to the service building. She knew Fred was expecting to hear the details of what had really happened, but she wasn’t sure if she would be able to tell him. “Fred, do you believe me?” she sniffled, worried that he wouldn’t understand.

    “I don’t even know what’s going on,” Fred said sternly, holding out a wet napkin so she could clean her face. “Daniel wouldn’t be upset if he thought nothing had happened.”

    “He was overreacting,” Kate mumbled. “Matt and I…” The words got stuck in her throat. “We were talking while you guys were at the concert. And I guess… it seemed like a good idea. I like Matt, and I thought that…”

    “What?” Fred prodded when she never finished her sentence.

    “We were talking about love, and not being with the people we wanted to be with. And we kissed.”

    “Just kissed?”

    “Yeah. And we figured that if he was alone, and I was alone, then maybe we could be alone together, you know?”

    “No, I don’t know,” Fred said determinedly, sensing problems. “Kate, did you sleep with him?”

    Kate didn’t answer at once. “I almost did,” she said with a quiet voice.

    Fred closed his eyes and shook his head. “Kate…”

    “I don’t need a lecture. You don’t know how I felt when I thought I wanted to-”

    “What happened?” Fred was convinced he wouldn’t like the answer.

    Kate opened her mouth to answer, but couldn’t quite form the words properly. “Nothing,” she finally said. “I changed my mind. I told him I didn’t want to, and he stopped at once, I swear, and got off me.”

    “Got off you?” Fred exclaimed. “When did you change your mind exactly?”

    Kate looked away. “It doesn’t matter.”

    “It matters to me.”

    “But it’s none of your business, is it? I changed my mind and we didn’t have sex, simple as that. But Daniel overheard us talking in the tent, he heard me tell Matt that I didn’t wanna go through with it, and he overreacted. He just… went crazy and told me to stay in the tent, but I couldn’t do that while they were off fighting, could I?”

    “What did he see?”

    “What do you mean?”

    “Daniel said he saw you. What did he mean?”

    Kate was feeling embarrassed now, uneasy about telling Fred all this. “He saw us… he saw us get dressed. Or me getting dressed, but really I was just straightening my clothes. Okay, maybe a little more than straightening them,” she added when she noticed Fred’s doubtful grimace. “But I didn’t have sex.”

    “Are you absolutely sure?” Fred asked sourly. “Because it seems like you wouldn’t know the difference anyway.”

    Kate started crying again. “I’m sorry!”

    Fred weakened immediately. “You don’t have to be sorry, Katie. You didn’t do anything wrong. I just… I think it was irresponsible of Matt to do something like that. He should know better.”

    Kate nodded. “So should I. But he’s a nice guy, Fred. He didn’t touch me when I said I didn’t want him to.”

    “I know. That’s why he didn’t hit back when Daniel punched him.”

    “I guess he would have done the same if it had been any of his friends,” Kate shrugged. “I don’t want him to be mad at me.”

    “It’ll pass,” Fred promised. “At least they were fighting over you this time. That’s something for the diary, right?”

    Kate giggled involuntarily. “I guess.”

    Fred gave her a hug, stroking her hair. “It’ll be better tomorrow, Katie. But…” he hesitated before going on with his question. “Did you really not have sex with him?”

    Kate nodded against his shoulder. “I couldn’t…” she mumbled weakly. “It wasn’t…”

    “It’s okay, it’s okay,” Fred soothed. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

    Kate took a deep breath. “It… It hurt. And I didn’t wanna do it, and we stopped before anything happened. It wasn’t sex, Fred.”

    “I know,” Fred said quietly, still holding her. “But Daniel…”

    “He overheard me saying that it hurt, and he misunderstood, he thought we were…” Kate sobbed, unable to continue the story. “He dragged Matt out of that tent and he misunderstood everything when he saw us half dressed. He… he just misunderstood everything, Fred.”

    “It’s okay. I’ll talk to him. He’ll understand.”

    Kate buried her face in his jacket. They stayed like that for a while, until a voice disrupted their peace. “Kate?”

    They both looked up to see Matt standing next to them. Kate wiped her tears. “Hey, Matt.”

    “Can I talk to you?” he said inquiringly.

    Fred looked at him suspiciously. “Maybe you should talk tomorrow.”

    “No, it’s okay,” Kate said, letting go of his hand. “Fred, can you give us a second?”

    Fred didn’t like this idea, but decided to let them be alone as long as they promised to go back to the campsite after they were done talking. Matt agreed, leading Kate away from the outdoor sinks. Fred was sure they wouldn’t be back for a while, so he returned to the camp.

    The others were still up; probably just finishing talking to Matt about the same thing Fred had talked to Kate about. Fred didn’t want to discuss it anymore, uninterested in what version Matt had told them and whether he had told them everything about Kate. He ignored them and went to his tent; completely beat after the long night. He didn’t bother taking off his clothes, and was almost about to fall asleep when he heard someone open the tent flap.

    “Hey, you?”

    It didn’t sound like Lex, Anna, Sammie or Kate, so Fred sat up and blinked at the girl who was sitting right next to him. It was one of Colleen’s friends; Fred didn’t care to remember what her name was. “What are you doing here?” he asked grumpily, flashing his flashlight in her face.

    “I’m looking for that other guy, Daniel. Do you know where he is?”

    “No. Why?” Fred said uninterestedly, lying down on his pillow again.

    “He and Colleen hooked up earlier, but he just left, and she wants to know where he is.”

    “Good luck with that,” Fred snorted. The girl looked questioningly at him. “Look, Daniel doesn’t really keep in touch with the girls he meet. You have a better chance at finding a dry spot around here.”

    “Well, that’s what I told her, but-”

    “It’s none of my problems,” Fred said harshly, turning his back on her. “Maybe you can lure him out by promising him some more sex.”

    “Whatever,” the girl muttered, clumsily climbing out of the tent. “You’re a jerk.”

    Fred threw Daniel’s pillow after her. “I didn’t sleep with her, Daniel did!”

    The pillow came flying back, hitting him in the face. “Who did Daniel sleep with?”

    Fred sat back up, instantly recognizing the voice. The pillow hadn’t been thrown by the strange girl, but by Anna, who was now looking at him with a hurt expression in her eyes. “Anna. Sorry, I didn’t know you were out there...”

    “Daniel had sex with that girl?” Anna asked, unable to tell why that information could hurt her so much when she wouldn’t have cared two days ago. “He’s with her right now?”

    “Anna…” Fred tried, reaching his arm out to grab her hand, but she swiftly ducked out of the tent. Fred could hear her quickly walking away.

    Somehow, he was not as pleased with this day as he had initially been.